Saturday, January 12, 2008

Berkshire takes step out of governance Stone Age (BRK.A)

From Financial Week:

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is taking a step out of the corporate governance Stone Age, thanks to a shove from the Securities and Exchange Commission. According to a letter from Berkshire CFO Marc Hamburg—dated Sept. 18, but released late Friday—to the securities regulator, the investment and holding company plans to establish a formal procedure for shareholders to nominate board candidates, which will be included on its upcoming 2008 proxy statement. In the letter, Mr. Hamburg said the firm did not understand that the SEC rules required a formal process for such nominations, and that in the past recommendations were simply mailed to the corporation’s secretary.